I have been trying to go on this trip for the last 4 or 5 years. My wife, Jane, and I along with two other couples were booked for Feb but they decided to roll the trip over till 2022. After talking it over, we decided with all the mess this past year has brought, a trip would do us good. Neither one of us had even seen a sail fish, much less fished for them so it would be a totally new experience. It was a blast, in two days of off shore fishing, we released 9 sails and I was fortunate to catch a marlin. They are so beautiful and to see them doing their acrobatics is a feeling hard to put into words.

There are turtle enclosures on the beach where volunteers gather eggs and place them inside the pen to protect them from predators



Yes, my wife caught more fish, sails and roosters, and bigger fish than I did. I caught the marlin though.


Had a great time together, she doesn't normally go on my hunting trips so it was nice to make a trip both can enjoy.

Have they started construction on the condos and resort extension?

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Have they started construction on the condos and resort extension?

Yes, as you enter the lodge grounds there is a construction site for the first part. They will do it in phases. There is a lot of concern that it will lose it's personality.

Yep. I quit going back after 5 previous trips because of the changes.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Yep. I quit going back after 5 previous trips because of the changes.

Ralph and I went 3-4 years ago. It wasn't a good atmosphere any longer. They were spending all their time and customer service wining and dining potential buys of the Condo's.

We would sit in the dining room waiting for dinner, drinks etc.

Besides that, the fishing wasn't as good. The Captians agreed that the Panamanian long liners have screwed the offshore bite. In-shore was hit or miss on Roosters etc.

The last time I was there( about 4-5 years ago), we saw 3 different long liners fishing in CR territorial waters. We cut a turtle of one of the lines.... It’s a shame as it was a great lodge and fishery years ago. Now it will just be another large condo resort soon enough. I loved landing at Puerto Jimenez airport and seeing the cemetery right alongside the runway!

Sad!

This was my first time fishing for sailfish so I don't have any thing to compare it to but this is what I experienced :
Fishing : We went off shore 2 days and released 9 sails and 1 marlin. There were at least 4 sails get off because we didn't know what we were doing being our first time. The other boats, while we were there were releasing 4 - 6 sails every day. Inshore, we only fished 1/2 day and caught 3 roosters, a couple of snapper for dinner and several other kind of fish that put up a heck of a fight. One other boat caught 6 roosters in the afternoon. As far as long line ships,I never saw one and we fished 16 miles out at times. I would think the long lines would effect all of the fishing off shore of Costa Rica equally though.
Service : The entire staff would bend over backwards to help you. There was not many people fishing due to the virus and the staff made it clear they were glad you came.
The only thing that concerns me is the condos. From looking at the plans, the lodge will be sandwiched between 2 high rise condos that will be high enough to see over the trees. That would ruin the cozy atmosphere it has now and become just like the towns further north, Los Suenos and Quepos.
Anyway, that's my thoughts. I had a great time, enough that we are booked for next year.

Randy,

Glad you and your wife enjoyed yourself. It's on my bucket list.

Mark

Glad to hear that you had a great time.